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Snow-Covered Forest Discussion

1 month ago

You would think so, wouldn't you? In fact, both of those cards have seen play in this list even but a few revisions ago. Let me go through my deckbuilding philosophy a little bit (hopefully I'm not repeating myself from other comments too much!) and hopefully be able to explain why those cards got cut.

What is the biggest problem with Sasaya as a commander? Well, to be brutally honest, she's frequently prone to just, you know, not doing anything. Playing Sasaya in a non-competitive EDH setting (competitive has both the cheap interaction and the speed to make Sasaya a non-issue) is like a
Shahrazad
/Archenemy subgame, where three or so other players need to successfully both deal with you, the combo player, while also hamstringing each other just enough to go on to win afterwards (it's for this reason, I've found, that aggressive decks see their win rates rise massively in games where Sasaya is eliminated) This isn't helped by the deck's lack of interaction or the fact that almost every creature in the deck either sacrifices itself or is more optimal (perhaps even only playable!) during the combo turn. A single discard spell can set you back years as you struggle to find action or the necessary lands to turn on that action in the first place.

To that end, effects like
Seek the Horizon
look appealing, don't they? Three lands for one card? That's basically
Harmonize
right there. But the problem with that thinking, as appealing as it may be, is it kind of lives in this fear-ridden headspace that can actively hamper the deck. If there isn't a discard spell, a Seek the Horizon without
Reliquary Tower
in play generally stops being Harmonize and becomes a bad
Sift
, or sometimes even worse. But Reliquary Tower, despite how good that sounds, actually kills the deck's consistency for the simple reason of not being named
Forest
(or
Snow-Covered Forest
, as the case may be). Instead, I've moved towards grindier, instant-speed engines like
Thaumatic Compass
Flip and
Journeyer's Kite
to make up the difference. Is it worse? Maybe, but again, only in scenarios that, while they do exist, are much less frequent than one might think, at least in my meta.

Rites of Spring
has that same "Reliquary Tower" problem. For Rite to be good, you need nine cards in hand total: Rites, seven lands-to-be, and a payoff spell. And that's just not feasible, to be honest. In the scenarios that it is, the draw engines this deck has mean that it's very likely those "lands-to-be" are just "lands". And in those scenarios, Rites is just a dead card.

Turn Six has always been the goal for this deck. Three lands to cast Sasaya, and eighteen initial mana to go off with. The rest of the deck is built with that goal in mind. And hey, if your local meta has a lot of discard, then of course Seek the Horizon (and, similarly,
Gaea's Blessing
) probably deserves a slot. If you think 53 lands is absurd and could easily be slimmed down, maybe with some more activated ability-based interaction, then Rites of Spring is probably a must-add. But this list has always been aiming for speed first, so they both got cut.

2 months ago

This is probably my favorite deck that I've seen in a while! I'm such a green player, and seeing all the things you can do here at instant speed is making me cackle to myself. I've developed an affinity for elves, so this list feels so natural to just pick up and play. My only regret is the price of the deck (I don't know if I'll ever own a Gaea's Cradle). I might build a budget version of this someday, though.

Out of curiosity and in a feeble attempt to help you fit in Eldritch Evolution, have you considered taking out a single Snow-Covered Forest? Is your landbase so finely balanced that removing one land could tip it out of that sweet spot? Just a thought. I see your predicament with finding cuts for it anywhere in this list.

2 months ago

At 36%, this deck honestly has a higher land-ratio than other modern decks that I run.

Make sure you're shuffling well, and if you want to add a few more lands then keep in mind Snow-Covered Plains take priority over Snow-Covered Forest, and each land you add reduces the probabilities I've outlined by about 2%.

5 months ago

5 months ago

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I appreciate hearing that people like my decks, expecially more fringe ones like this. You wouldn't believe how hard I am trying to get this deck noticed and upvoted... Mostly to no avail.

I was considering Survival of the Fittest, but wasn't sure I ran enough creatures to make the best use of it. Playing nicely with Genesis is pretty tight though.

My main concern with using Genesis Wave is that it could bin my precious Hurricane effects and cut me off from winning in that way.

Anyhow, Thanks for your comment. If you can, please remember to upvote as well :)

Preemptive protection and another tutor will help you more than conditional responses, in my experience - plus, Tainted Pacting for Food Chain often puts Squee or Eternal Scourge in exile automatically, making it "tutor" for both at once.

9 months ago

HaveANuke I only run 4 basics so Earthcraft/Squirrel Nest won't be reliable enough unfortunately

WestonPerini The snow basics are there for Tainted Pact. Essentially a Snow-Covered Forest is a separate entity from a basic Forest so it allows my deck to have 0 duplicates and still run 4 basics, that way Tainted Pact won't stop my search because I've flipped two basic forests.

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